The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 155 Baoyu's Enlightenment
It was snowing heavily outside in the early morning.

Shi Xiangyun was sleeping in a warm bed when suddenly the curtain was lifted.

"Miss, wake up."

Cuilu called out to Shi Xiangyun softly.

Shi Xiangyun played with the girls until three o'clock yesterday and is still very sleepy now.

"Sleep a little longer, call me for lunch, I'm not hungry..."

Shi Xiangyun ate a lot of hot dishes at night and could skip breakfast.

After Cuilu sat down, she reached out and pushed Shi Xiangyun, who was sleeping facing inside.

"Don't sleep anymore, get up quickly, or I'll lift the quilt!"

There is no obvious superior-subordinate relationship between maids and young ladies. If they get along well, they are like sisters and best friends, and it is normal for them to quarrel with each other.

Although they are in a superior-subordinate relationship, the maid who has been with him for a long time needs Jia Rong's consent to decide whether to stay or leave. Even Jia Yuanchun cannot make the decision.

Jia Rong was very good to his servants. Although he doted on Shi Xiangyun, Lin Daiyu and others, he did not care much about rules and hierarchies. Normally, even if he saw maids forcing young ladies to drink, he would just smile and watch.

The only senior maid who was driven away was Yingchun's maid Siqi. Siqi's crime was too serious. She had sex with a man on the street while serving the young lady. Who would dare to use such a maid to serve their own daughter?

Except for Jia Rong, there were very few men entering the garden. Even those who came in to do business had to be watched by two old women and maids to prevent them from wandering around.

When it comes to the issue of the daughter's innocence, driving Siqi away was already an exceptional mercy. Not only did he not beat her to death to prove the reputation of his young lady, he didn't even send her to jail. It was really too merciful.

The maids in the mansion also had good places to go, such as Jia Yuanchun's maid Baoqin, Wang Xifeng's maid Ping'er, the old lady's maid Yuanyang, Jia Baoyu's maid and so on.

Even Jia She's maid followed Jia Lian to live a rich life outside.

The great potential of the career and generous treatment naturally made the maids as well-fed as the young ladies.

Shi Xiangyun soon felt a chill on her butt. It turned out that Cuilu had really lifted her quilt.

However, the room was still very warm, and Shi Xiangyun was not cold. She just instinctively wanted to be warmer. She hid her smooth feet under the quilt and reached out to try to grab the quilt.

Cui Lu smiled and said, "Hurry up! The old lady came over last night and is now at the great grandmother's place. All the girls have to go over to pay their respects this morning. Don't be late."

Shi Xiangyun quickly lost her sleepiness and opened her eyes quickly, looking at Cuilu in confusion.

"what?"

Her expression and attitude did not seem to welcome the old lady.

Cuilu smiled and stood up, "Hurry up and get up, Master Zheng is an official again, the whole family from the west is coming, including your second brother!"

Shi Xiangyun sat up quickly and asked, "What time is it?"

Cuilu glanced at the golden clock behind her and said, "It's past nine o'clock. The old lady should be having breakfast now. You should get up quickly and go over to greet her. Don't let people think that our family has no manners."

Shi Xiangyun felt a little uncomfortable. She had become accustomed to the leisurely days in the warm winter when she would sleep until eight or nine o'clock every day, or even until noon before eating.

It’s not that I sleep late every day. Sometimes I get up and eat in the house, then go out to play with sisters in the same yard or outside yards. We will get together for dinner in the evening.

Usually if we play late at night, we will tacitly get up later during the day.

I had long forgotten about greeting the old lady every day. Even though it was a habit of more than ten years, it was quickly forgotten in the three or four months after the old lady passed away.

Shi Xiangyun recalled, "Didn't he leave in August or September, after the Mid-Autumn Festival? That's only three months."

Cuilu pulled Shi Xiangyun up and said, "Hurry up and wash and put on makeup. Your hair is messy. The master is probably going to the palace today. Tonight is the New Year. You should take a nap after lunch, otherwise you will be tired at night."

If the old lady hadn’t come over, Cuilu wouldn’t have wanted to get up early.

Usually, Shi Xiangyun would sleep until eight or nine o'clock, and Cuilu could also lie down until after eight o'clock.

The servants were responsible for cooking and delivering meals, and Cuilu did not need to be responsible for fetching water or washing clothes. Every day, these maids were like the young lady's playmates and sisters, and they would call each other when they woke up.

There is no rule on who gets up first, and the distance between each other is only one or two meters.

The maid's sleeping place is like a coffin, but the lady's sleeping place is also not big. Because of the fuel and warmth effect, some places are designed to be smaller.

The sleeping place for the lower-ranking maids was large, but there was no heating. They had to curl up in a small space under the quilt at night. No matter how big the room and bed were, they didn’t seem to like them at all.

Moreover, Cuilu and Shi Xiangyun used the same toilet, so they could take off their pants and go to the toilet in a warm room, instead of squatting in a wooden house outside in the cold winter with the maids and nannies, shivering in the cold wind.

From food, clothing, housing and transportation to daily eating, drinking and entertainment, basically everything used by the young lady is also used by the maids.

Both the young ladies and the maids thought this was normal, but they also knew that it was not like this outside, and it was just that their master was kind-hearted.

After packing up, Shi Xiangyun took Cuilu out. As soon as the maids lifted the curtain, the light from the snow outside at ten o'clock in the morning made it impossible for Shi Xiangyun to open her eyes.

Besides the brightness of the ten o'clock sun and the snow, there was a chilly wind.

If there is no wind today it will definitely be a sunny day, but if there is a strong wind it will be a biting bad day.

Shi Xiangyun quickly lowered the curtain and said, "It's snowing so heavily and it's so cold outside. I don't want to go."

Cui Lu laughed and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? That's your aunt! I haven't seen her for a long time."

Shi Xiangyun still lifted the curtain and walked out. She felt that it had not been long at all, but she didn't know how to say it out loud.

Cuilu followed and put the hat with a lace-up on Shi Xiangyun, and then she also took the hat handed to her by the maid and put it on herself.

The hat and cloak are considered a set, but the hat is a Guanyin hat and the cloak is just a cloak.

The snow on the road had already been cleared away by the maids and old women. When Shi Xiangyun went out, Lin Daiyu also came out.

Lin Daiyu laughed and said, "Why hasn't Sister Bao come out yet? Now that you've become a daughter-in-law, you don't recognize the old lady anymore?"

Shi Xiangyun didn't know and looked curiously at the four rooms where Xue Baochai lived.

Because Jia Rong has been living in the front yard for the convenience of work, Xue Baochai went to the front yard after getting married to prepare for having a baby, and only came back these two days when the New Year was approaching.

Soon Xue Baochai also came out of the room.

Xue Baochai wore a golden phoenix hairpin on her head and a white cloak with a yellowish fish pattern. Under the cloak was a golden brocade cotton robe. She wore dark green teardrop earrings on her ears. Her face was slightly red as if she was a little tipsy. She was dignified and beautiful, not like an ordinary woman.

"My sister is such a bad mouth. She takes advantage of the master's liking for her and makes jokes about everyone she meets. I wonder if the master likes Qingwen because of her mouth."

Xue Baochai came out smiling.

In fact, when Lin Daiyu was sick, she looked weak, but when she was well, she was very lively and lively.

Jia Rong has always been very nice to her. Just like Xichun who likes to find trouble, Daiyu also has a strange behavior that makes her dare to provoke anyone.

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "How dare I tease Sister Bao? I know how powerful Sister Bao is. I never know if I say something wrong and Sister Bao catches me and makes me embarrassed again."

Xue Baochai smiled and said, "Wouldn't it be better if you said less?"

Shi Xiangyun said impatiently, "Let's go quickly. There are a lot of things to do today for the New Year. I'll go ask Grandma for some pocket money later. Xichun and I will go first. You two should act more pitiful."

Baochai said quickly, "How can I, a new aunt, pretend to be pitiful? I think it's better for sister Daiyu to come. If she cries a little, the eldest lady will stuff all her pocket money into her hands."

Lin Daiyu laughed and said, "Go ahead and cry if you want to! Sister Yun, look, Sister Bao has become our aunt and she doesn't want to play with us anymore."

The three of them started bickering as they walked with their maid.

Shi Xiangyun was very anxious, "You two, be serious! I know you two have money, but I don't have money for the New Year. If you don't help me, I will change places with Baoqin and ignore you!"

Although Xue Baoqin also has a lively personality, Lin Daiyu still prefers to play with Shi Xiangyun.

"Okay, okay, who said I won't help you? It's just that Grandma's family may not be well off this year. No matter how much you give, everyone will be happy to take it. When the rich man comes back in the evening, are you still afraid that he will run away?"

When Shi Xiangyun heard Lin Daiyu say this, she said happily, "Okay! Go ask big brother for money tonight, and we will surround him together and stop him from running away!"

Xue Baochai said with a smile: "I can't go there. I can't be so unfaithful. If you want to go, go with the other girls. I have to stay with the grandmothers at night."

"Yo yo yo~" Lin Daiyu joked, "Look! Just when I said she had climbed up the social ladder and ignored people, she's really out of breath now."

Xichun is just stupid, but Lin Daiyu is spoiled and relies on her intelligence and the fact that she is loved by everyone to start attacks everywhere.

Whether it was Jia Yuanchun, Wang Xifeng, the You sisters, Qin Keqing, or even the many maids and concubines in Jia Rong's front yard, they could not escape the teasing of this mouth.

But it was quite lively, and both Xue Baochai and the others liked this young lady who was lively everywhere. As the three of them were walking, they suddenly heard the sound of a bell.

"Stop, stop, stop!"

I saw Xue Baoqin driving a deer cart coming from a distance, and there were a few children on the wooden board pulled by the big deer.

Shi Xiangyun was immediately happy when she saw Xue Baoqin driving the bike and Xing Xiuyun sitting on the front bench, with a few children squatting on the back and holding each other.

"Baoqin! What are you doing?"

Xue Baoqin smiled and said, "This morning the master sent me a gift, saying that since I have been in the mansion for six years, he gave each of us a gift. The gift I got is this deer cart. Do you want to get on and try it out?"

Shi Xiangyun said anxiously: "Try it! Why doesn't big brother give me a gift? I have been here for many years!"

Xue Baoqin held the reins in one hand and the whip in the other, while Xing Xiuyan opened a wooden money box.

Xue Baoqin said, "It's only 20 cents per ride, no cheating for everyone!"

Shi Xiangyun scolded, "No! You charming little bitch, you still want to take my money?!"

Xue Baoqin snorted, "If you don't give me money, don't sit down. Look at the children in the back. They all gave me money. Children know how to give money to spend. You are such a difficult woman to raise!"

Jia Ben didn't like to see women quarreling, so he urged, "Hurry up, hurry up, or I'll return the money if you don't drive!"

The other guys followed suit, "Give us our money back! Drive!"

"Run faster! We haven't reached the destination yet!"

"Sister, can I sit in the front? It's too crowded in the back."

Seeing this, Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "Sister Bao, your sister is better at business than you! It seems that the child's pocket money can't be avoided."

Xue Baochai was helpless.

Xue Baoqin didn't argue with them. She just pulled the rope and drove the big deer away.

"Hold on tight! Drive!"

Shi Xiangyun stamped her feet in anger and was extremely envious.

"Big brother is partial to me!" Shi Xiangyun was furious and decided to ask Jia Rong for a gift when he came back.

Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai smiled and continued to pay their respects to the old lady with their maids.

Xue Baochai could have not gone, but it was New Year's Day after all, and Lin Daiyu and Shi Xiangyun were both relatives of the old lady.

The most important thing is that I can now legally wear beautiful clothes and jewelry that I could not afford before, let alone be qualified to wear.

Xue Baochai dressed up beautifully early in the morning, wishing that everyone in the capital would know her.

If a woman doesn't go out shopping after buying beautiful new clothes and bags, she will feel suffocated to death.

Lin Daiyu was full of bad intentions, and soon she started to talk too much, "Sister Bao has been with Brother Rong for a while, and Brother Rong has given Bao Qin a gift, so why hasn't he given Sister Bao some benefits?"

Shi Xiangyun is also smart, but she uses her intelligence in studying. On the contrary, she is not as sensitive to the complex human nature as others.

"What benefit did Sister Bao get? Tell me quickly!"

Xue Baochai smiled, seemingly in a reserved manner, although she knew that Lin Daiyu was deliberately provoking her to reveal her secret, but... Xue Baochai just loved this!
"They are not expensive things, but just some tokens of my love. For example, Baoqin's deer carriage doesn't look expensive. Mine is made of the same fabric used by the princess to make clothes. It doesn't have any fancy patterns like phoenix and python patterns, but is embroidered with some golden peonies."

"This was sent by the Princess of Prince Gong. The master said that this year the Queen gave clothes to the Grandmother. It just so happens that I just got married, so the clothes sent by the Princess are for me to wear."

Lin Daiyu laughed and said, "Look at her, her face is red from the cold!"

The conceited Xue Baochai was soon laughed at by Lin Daiyu and Shi Xiangyun, and the discussion became boring.

Xue Baochai snorted, "I won't pay any attention to you!"

When Lin Daiyu saw that Xue Baochai was angry, she quickly smiled and went over to say something nice. The three of them chatted and laughed until they arrived at Tianxiang Tower.

The hall was already bustling with activity.

The older girls sat at the table eating snacks and drinking hot wine.

The maids were busy running around, serving tea and water, and delivering messages.

The old women stood nearby and watched, and would also walk around and talk to the others.

Because of fire prevention, many old women still have to come out to patrol today. In particular, there are many more lanterns and candles in the house, and they have to be watched at all times.

Even several buckets of water were prepared in advance.

Wang Xifeng saw the three girls coming and said with a smile, "Come on! Did you meet Baoqin on the road? She drove her carriage early in the morning to cheat us boys out of our money. I couldn't persuade her to stop, so I had to give the boys a handful of money and let them play as they pleased, so that they wouldn't act naughty in the house and make their brothers and sisters cry."

The three of them smiled and said, "Second Grandma! Happy New Year!"

Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "It's auspicious. Let's have some fun tonight. Now let's go and pay our respects to the old lady. Let's go in and talk."

How could Wang Xifeng not know what the three people meant by their auspicious words, but in order to give face to the old lady, she did not give the New Year's money right away.

After leading the three people past the screen and the outer room, they came to a warm room on the first floor. This room was reserved for the old lady who was not convenient to go upstairs.

I haven't seen her for a long time. The old lady has aged a lot, but also become much kinder.

After seeing the three people coming, the old lady hurriedly called them over to talk.

Shi Xiangyun and Lin Daiyu sat on the left and right sides of the old lady respectively, and Xue Baochai sat near Aunt Xue.

In addition to the old lady, there were also Sanchun, Miaoyu, the eldest and second ladies of the Zhen family, the Zhen family's wife and the eldest wife, as well as Jia Baoyu and Li Wan, Mrs. Xing, Mrs. Wang, and Xiren in the room.

Grandmother Jia sighed, "I feel relieved to see that you are all doing well, especially Daiyu, who has gotten much better and grown up."

Shi Xiangyun smiled and said, "I've grown taller too!"

Everyone laughed.

Xue Baochai looked at Jia Baoyu and asked politely, "Second Master Bao, why didn't Brother Lan come?"

Shi Xiangyun looked around and also shouted, "Grandma isn't here either."

Grandmother Jia was just wondering, after all, Li Wan was clearly here.

Lin Daiyu laughed and said, "Silly boy, Grandma Rong went to the palace today. It's the same every year. How could you have forgotten?"

Shi Xiangyun should have called Jia Yuanchun "sister", but now she calls Jia Yuanchun "grandma", which obviously shows that she has acknowledged that she is from the Ning Mansion.

Li Wan cried and said, "Lang'er is sick. Since he returned, he has been staying alone in his room. He doesn't study but practices martial arts. He just stays alone in his room. I don't listen to what I say or how I cry. I have invited doctors, monks and Taoist priests, but it's useless."

"There is really no other way. Let's come and ask the Duke for help."

Xue Baochai and others quickly comforted Li Wan, but none of them agreed to anything.

Jia Rong would tell everyone he liked and he never hid it. He would be very direct when he liked someone.

But if I don’t like someone, I won’t hide it either.

Jia Rong doesn't like Li Wan, and everyone else, including Jia Yuanchun, is reluctant to agree to anything.

The person who felt the most uncomfortable at this time must be Jia Baoyu.

Jia Baoyu looked at the girls who had been close to him, and found that they no longer shed tears for him, but had become someone else's women in the blink of an eye, dressed in bright and beautiful clothes, dignified and elegant. Suddenly, he had an epiphany.

The world does not revolve around you, some people do not belong to you, and not all women will cry for you.

When Jia Baoyu came to this garden full of beauties in the morning, he found that the women here were laughing and joking, and there was not a single sad person.

But his sadness could not be comforted by a kind-hearted girl.

Mrs. Wang quickly said to Jia Baoyu, "Baoyu, your father has lived alone since we left. You can go there and have a look. We women are here to talk. Come with your father to worship the ancestors in the evening."

"Yes." Jia Baoyu is no longer a boy, so it is naturally not suitable for him to live in the same room with someone else's wife.

Shi Xiangyun and Lin Daiyu nodded politely, but ultimately did not say a word.

(End of this chapter)